7-20-1963

[953 nut 52,176]

                                              7-20-1963

                    Jan and Dean’s “Surf City” hits #1

“Two girls for every boy!” was the opening line of Jan and Dean’s “Surf City”, the song that reached the top of the US pop charts on this day in 1963. The claim was not supported by the facts, but it helped create a popular image of California as a surfer’s paradise of sun and sand with endless summers.

To anyone with only a passing familiarity with 1960s pop music, “Surf City” might easily be mistaken for a Beach Boys record, though in fact, the Beach Boys had yet to have a #1 of their own. Still, “Surf City” owes its existence to the Beach Boys and their resident genius Brian Wilson.

High school classmates Jan Berry and Dean Torrance earned a pair of minor hits while still in their teens, including one; “Baby Talk” (#10,’59), which the Beach Boy’s Mike Love later credited as an inspiration for their 1961 debut hit single, “Surfin”. By 1962, the direction of influence between the two groups had shifted. Jan and Dean’s doo-*** flavored was going out of fashion and when the duo met the Beach Boys while appearing on the same bill, Berry and Torrance heard the sound that would reinvigorate their career. They became good friends with Brian Wilson and asked Wilson if they could record one of his songs. He declined their first choice, “Surfin Safari”, but did give them “Surf City”.

In a year that also saw the debut of the Frankie Avalon-Annette Funicello “Beach Party” franchise, “Surf City” became the first chart toping surf song ever.

Other big hits for Jan and Dean were “Honolulu Lulu”, “Drag City”, “Dead Man’s Curve” and “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena”